Lady Gaga’s career-spanning, herky-jerky tribute to David Bowie was one of the more “incredible” moments of the 2016 Grammys. She started with “Space Oddity,” and ran through the Thin White Duke’s greatest hits, including “Suffragette City,” “Rebel, Rebel,” and “Let’s Dance,” before ending on “Heroes.” The crowd inside the Staples Center gave Gaga a standing ovation afterwards, but outside? Controversy and criticisms were a-brewing.
The Bowie-inspired visuals were made possible by Intel, and in case you didn’t know that, the ad that aired right after the tribute was happy to tell you.
https://twitter.com/davidehrlich/status/699436647096520704
I loved gaga's performance until that Intel commercial…. Wow
— Tay Jardine (@saintesays) February 16, 2016
*does performance dedicated to Bowie then does Intel commercial making money off Bowie*- @ladygaga
— LUK (@LUKMP3) February 16, 2016
Meanwhile, David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, the director of Moon and the upcoming Warcraft, was not pleased with Gaga for a different reason. He wrote on Twitter, “‘overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused.’ Damn it! What IS that word!?” That word, Alex Trebek, is the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of “gaga.”
"overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused." Damn it! What IS that word!?
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) February 16, 2016
It’s unclear what exactly he didn’t like about the medley. It could be because Lady Gaga and David Bowie, while similarly theatrical performers, never knew each other, and Jones was hoping for one of his dad’s friends, like Arcade Fire, or Iggy Pop, or Brian Eno. Now I wish the Grammys had given 10-minutes of airtime to Eno playing only the instrumental tracks from “Heroes.” That’s the kind of trolling (sponsored by Intel) Bowie would have loved.
